I find it incredible the world accepts the Islamic claim that the Jewish Temple did not stand on what is called Temple Mount! That the Temple stood there is historical fact, not a myth. Academics who add their own brand of stupidity are to be condemned as anti-intellectual. There is no excuse for their atheistic tomfoolery.

And the claims made by Islam should be cast away out of hand, as being so much childish hubris and invention. (Their false claims are many!). This VERY brief paper serves only to indicate a few references, but does not include serious academic sources. The reason is that the whole ridiculous ‘academic’ scenario is something from the studios of Mickey Mouse, not from serious minds.

I could fill many books with references to the Temple. The Bible is full of references to the Temple, but here we will look at a few non-biblical sources, too. The point? To put it bluntly, to poke Islam and the UN in the eye... they are already blind, anyway! Only events up to the evil birth of Islam are referred to. There are many other references in secular sources that show Jerusalem and the Temple were actual, and that the Temple stood on Temple Mount at least 1000 years before the fake usurper, Islam, gained control.

The Sack of Jerusalem

The Second Book of Chronicles describes the sacking of Jerusalem in about 925BC by Pharaoh Shishak, who took the city without violence. There is reference to him taking treasures from the Temple of Yahweh as well as from the royal palace, plus shields of solid gold. (Finkelstein, Israel (2006). "The Last Labayu: King Saul and the Expansion of the First North Israelite Territorial Entity". In Amit, Yairah; Ben Zvi, Ehud; Finkelstein, Israel; Lipschits, Oded. Essays on Ancient Israel in Its Near Eastern Context: A Tribute to Nadav Naʼaman. Eisenbrauns. pp. 171 ff. ISBN 9781575061283). This Egyptian victory is also found as reliefs on the walls of the temple of Amun, el-Hibeh, showing victory over Judah, though one expert denies it speaks of such a victory.

Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem

The references to Yahweh being unable to deliver the people of Jerusalem is sufficient to prove that mention of Yahweh implied His Temple on the mount. (Source: Isaiah, Chronicles, 2 Kings). God exacted vengeance on the foreign army, killing 185,000 troops in one night. These events are shown on an archaeological find in Nineveh, in 1830. The king of Jerusalem sent a massive tribute to Nineveh, partly made up of gold and silver from the Temple.

Siege of Jerusalem, 597BC

After being victorious against pharaoh Necho, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Judah. King Jehoiakim paid tribute to avoid further violence, taking golden objects from the Temple (C. Hassell Bullock. An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophetic Books. p. 340), again proving both its existence and its location, confirmed by external sources (No 24 WA21946, The Babylonian Chronicles, The British Museum), (Kenneth Strand, "Thiele's Biblical Chronology As a Corrective for Extrabiblical Dates," Andrews University Seminary Studies 34 (1996) 310, 317).

Siege of Jerusalem, 63BC

This was conducted by Pompey the Great. His military action brought Judaean independence to an end, incorporating it into the Roman Empire. This followed the death of the Hasmonean queen, Alexandra Salome, after her son, Aristobulus got rid of his brother Hyrcanus. He was the high priest, which itself proves the existence of a Temple. An account of the siege confirms both Jerusalem and the Temple: “for he saw the walls were so firm, that it would be hard to overcome them; and that the valley before the walls was terrible; and that the temple, which was within that valley, was itself encompassed with a very strong wall, insomuch that if the city were taken, that temple would be a second place of refuge for the enemy to retire to.” (Josephus, The War of the Jews, 1:141).

The fallen prince, Aristobulus, had refused entry to Jerusalem to Pompey, and he held the eastern part of the city, including the Temple Mount and the City of David (Rocca 2008, pp. 44-46). Pompey’s men got into the city and camped near the Temple Mount (Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 1:143). He had his men build a ‘saddle’ connecting his camp with the Temple (Wightman, Gregory J. (1991). "Temple Fortresses in Jerusalem Part II: The Hasmonean Baris and Herodian Antonia". Bulletin of the Anglo-Israeli Archaeological Society. 10: 7–35). A second camp was then built south-east of the Temple (Rocca 2008, pp. 44-46) (Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 1:141).

Following the slaughter of 12,000 Jews, Pompey impiously entered the Temple’s Holy of Holies (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 14:70-71), (Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 1:152-153), (Barker 2003, p. 146), (Losch 2008, p. 149). All of this solidly proves the existence of both Jerusalem and the Temple on the Mount, built on the former threshing floor purchased by king David, thus proving that the Temple Mount belonged to Judah. And, as David’s tribal line is still in existence, with his direct descendants alive today, the Mount is still legally owned by them.

Siege of Jerusalem by Herod the Great, 37BC

This violent man wanted to rule Judaea, and enlisted Mark Antony, who helped him to capture Jerusalem (Sicker 2001, p. 75). Later two brothers were set up to rule parts of Judaea (Rocca 2009, pp. 6–8).

When Herod was assured kingship by Pompey, he pitched a camp north of the Temple (which he could not have done had the temple not existed!) on the same spot used by Pompey 26 years before. He then employed siege engines after cutting down all the trees surrounding the area, and bringing in artillery. The attack on the Temple Mount and Jerusalem was vigorous but the walls were thick and almost impenetrable.

After forty days Herod’s men breached the ‘northern wall’ (called the second wall) of Jerusalem (Josephus). Fifteen days later the inner or first wall fell, along with the wall of the Temple’s outer court. The portico walls were then burnt down and defenders were left to defend the Temple’s inner court and the upper city of Jerusalem. (Rocca 2008, pp. 45–47), (Rocca 2009, p. 35), (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 14:470–481). Herod tried to stop soldiers desecrating the Temple’s inner sanctuary, so that he did not end up presiding over ruins. (Atkinson, Kenneth (October 1996). "Herod the Great, Sosius, and the Siege of Jerusalem (37 B.C.E.) in Psalm of Solomon 17". Novum Testamentum. Brill. 38: 312–322. doi:10.1163/1568536962613216), (Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 1:355). All of the above clearly describes the existence of Jerusalem (as being Jebus) and the Temple on Temple Mount.

The Fall of Jerusalem and Temple, 70AD

Jesus had prophesied the destruction of the Temple, and its end came about in 70AD, after a brutal and extremely violent siege by the Romans, led by Titus and his deputy, Tiberius Julius Alexander. “The siege ended on August 30[3] with the sacking of the city and the destruction of its Second Temple. The destruction of both the first and second temples is still mourned annually as the Jewish fast Tisha B'Av. The Arch of Titus, celebrating the Roman sack of Jerusalem and the Temple, still stands in Rome.” (Wikipedia), (Peter Schäfer, The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World: The Jews of Palestine from Alexander the Great to the Arab Conquest, Routledge, 2003 pp.129-130), (Barbara Levick, Vespasian, Routledge 1999, pp. 116–119).

Josephus described the scene of the violence: “As the legions charged in, neither persuasion nor threat could check their impetuosity: passion alone was in command. Crowded together around the entrances many were trampled by their friends, many fell among the still hot and smoking ruins of the colonnades and died as miserably as the defeated. As they neared the Sanctuary they pretended not even to hear Caesar's commands and urged the men in front to throw in more firebrands. The partisans were no longer in a position to help; everywhere was slaughter and flight. Most of the victims were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, butchered wherever they were caught. Round the Altar the heaps of corpses grew higher and higher, while down the Sanctuary steps poured a river of blood and the bodies of those killed at the top slithered to the bottom.” (Peter Schäfer, The History of the Jews in Antiquity, Routledge (1995) 2013 pp.191-192). It should be noted that Josephus witnessed the siege and violence, as he acted as a mediator for the Romans. He said:

“Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done), [Titus] Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as they were of the greatest eminence; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne; and so much of the wall enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in garrison [in the Upper City], as were the towers [the three forts] also spared, in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valor had subdued; but for all the rest of the wall [surrounding Jerusalem], it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it [Jerusalem] had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem came to by the madness of those that were for innovations; a city otherwise of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind.” (Flavius Josephus. The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem. Containing The Interval Of About Three Years. From The Taking Of Jerusalem By Titus To The Sedition At Cyrene. Book VII. Chapter 1.1).

“And truly, the very view itself was a melancholy thing; for those places which were adorned with trees and pleasant gardens, were now become desolate country every way, and its trees were all cut down. Nor could any foreigner that had formerly seen Judaea and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, and now saw it as a desert, but lament and mourn sadly at so great a change. For the war had laid all signs of beauty quite waste. Nor had anyone who had known the place before, had come on a sudden to it now, would he have known it again. But though he [a foreigner] were at the city itself, yet would he have inquired for it.” (Flavius Josephus. The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem. BOOK VI. Containing The Interval Of About One Month. From The Great Extremity To Which The Jews Were Reduced To The Taking Of Jerusalem By Titus.. Book VI. Chapter 1.1)

The UN and its supporters in Islamic countries, should read actual history! The Romans could not destroy what did not exist! Nor could huge stones be thrown from the top of a Temple wall that was not there! The Arch of Titus, celebrating the Roman sack of Jerusalem and the Temple, still stands in Rome. Josephus documents over one million people died in this horrific siege, and 97,000 were enslaved. As usual, these figures are not accepted by some historians... but disbelief in such numbers is par for the course when it comes to anything scriptural. But, maybe Roman historians have also lied about this mighty siege? And do not forget the Temple siege undertaken by Jewish zealots two years previously.

The Zealot Temple Siege (68 AD)

At the time of Jesus and beyond many Jewish zealots proclaimed themselves to be saviours of the Jews. They each had relatively small supporters who wanted to overthrow Roman rule, but each group wanted to lead, so they often fought against each other. In this siege a former high priest fought zealots who had taken control of the Temple. The obvious fact is, to document this siege both Jerusalem and the Temple had to exist!

Note:

“The Second Temple (Beit HaMikdash HaSheni) was the Jewish Holy Temple which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, between 516 BCE and 70 CE. According to Judeo-Christian tradition, it replaced Solomon's Temple (the First Temple), which was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, when Jerusalem was conquered and part of the population of the Kingdom of Judah was taken into exile to Babylon.” (Wikipedia)

Note that the Temple stood on the Temple Mount.

“The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple (Hebrew:בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ‎, Modern: Beit HaMikdash, Tiberian: Beiṯ HamMiqdāš, Ashkenazi: Beis HaMikdosh; Ge'ez:ቤተመቅደስ?: Betä Mäqdäs) was any of a series of structures which were located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque. These successive temples stood at this location and functioned as a site of ancient Israelite and later Jewish worship.” (Wikipedia)

The Romans Destroy the Temple at Jerusalem, 70AD (More).

(Also see above siege by zealots). In 66AD Judaeans rebelled against Roman rule. Therefore, Nero sent his army, led by Vespasian, to put down the rebellion. By 68AD the uprisings in the north had been put down, so the Romans looked to take control of Jerusalem. (http://www.livius.org/articles/concept/roman-jewish-wars/roman-jewish-wars-4/?).

But, Nero died that year, Vespasian became Emperor, and sent his son, Titus, to make the assault on Jerusalem. The Roman legions surrounded the city and by the year 70, the Romans broke through Jerusalem's outer walls (the ‘second walls’) and ransacked the city. Finally, they burned and destroyed the Temple (though zealots first set fire inside the courtyards to try to stop the Romans).

The rebellion continued ad hoc for a further three years, before it was utterly quashed by 73 AD, including the fall of the stronghold at Masada. (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/jewishtemple.htm)”

And

“Archaeologists have discovered the remains of an ancient tower thought to have once stood atop Jerusalem’s fabled ‘Third Wall,’ which was breached during the Roman emperor Titus’ siege of the city 2,000 years ago.

The grisly battle ultimately led to the conquest of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple, and researchers have long debated the details of the city’s boundaries on the eve of the onslaught in 70 AD.”

This brief paper is sufficient to prove the Jewish Second Temple existed, and it stood on Temple Mount. Those who deny it are unintellectual frauds, for historians and archaeologists prove the case.

Even now, the UN is trying to erase Jerusalem and Israel from world maps*, even though its former existence as the League of Nations handed-over the land of ‘Palestine’ to Israel, legally contracted and approved by Islamic countries also! And the land mass given was many times greater than Israel now holds. (*Human Rights Voices, 3rdOctober 2017).

How amazingly bizarre and foolish is this, when history documents Jerusalem and the ownership of Temple Mount over millennia! It is painfully obvious that Islam could not have had any control until after Islam had been invented. But, even then, control does not mean ownership. Remember that a contract is a contract, and David bought the land on which the Temple stood. The validity and legality of the contract still stands. Perhaps Islamists and the UN have yet to attend their reading classes. Or, maybe they have not renewed their intellectual abilities yet. Sarcasm? Yes, it is, and well-deserved.